Operation Orient (1978)

(Original Title: Ishyri dosi... sex) A Greek action movie about a race between opposing criminal factions all after a stolen statue full of heroin.

A crime boss (Gordon Mitchell) is involved in a heroin operation.

Also on the yacht is the crime boss' girl (Mersiha Colakovic).

The crime boss tells her they have visitors and he throws her a towel. The boss then proceeds to beat someone's ass.

Elsewhere - the home of Mario, who works for the crime boss.

Anna (Rosaria della Femmina), Mario's wife, wakes up and finds the bed empty. She gets up and goes to look for him.

Anna sleepily wanders through the house naked.

Anna walks into the guest bedroom where Mario (Gianni Gori) is with his side lover Yasmine (Annamaria Clementi).

Anna returns to her room as if in a daze. We get the feeling she's seen this many times before.

She takes some pills to dull the pain.

She looks out the window and sees Mario get into his car. They make eye contact.

Mario screeches out of the driveway, on his way to meet his boss.

The crime boss unveils his master plan. The heroin can be transported by concealment in this statue which will be presented to an Athenian head of state.

Anna has decided to leave Mario. She flees the estate.

An assassin (Notis Pitsilos) is hired to kill her.

But the assassin himself is assassinated by a mystery person on a motorcycle.

Mario returns home and Yasmine asks whether they were able to take care of Anna. Mario assures her that Anna is "out of their way" and they will be going to the airport to make sure nothing goes wrong with the statue.

At the airport the Athenian officials wait for the statue - and it never arrives. The motorcycle guy and accomplices are able to intercept the heroin statue. Needless to say, the crime boss is very unhappy.

Mario sits alone in the living room, troubled by the failure of their plan. Yasmine sees him and decides to cheer his spirits.

She walks over to him and pulls up her dress, revealing nothing underneath.

The boss, getting a backrub, calls Mario. He tells him they've found the helicopter used in the heist - and he wants Mario to get on it.

Mario finds out where the helicopter was rented. The clues lead to Jack (Antonis Liotsis) who was the one in charge of transporting the statue. He was injured during the heist and now gets into it with Mario. But he is shot by Yasmine. We find later that Yasmine wasn't just protecting Mario. She had other reasons to shoot Jack.

Mario and Yasmine take a trip to Cyprus to track down the operation which stole the heroin stuffed statue.

Laura (Anna Romanou) is in a Cyprus hotel. She is the wife of Luigi - the man in charge of stealing the statue.

She hears the phone ring and gets out of the shower.

Laura gets the message that Mario and Yasmine have checked into the hotel.

Yasmine takes a shower.

While Mario is in town tracking down the gang that stole the statue, Laura introduces herself to Yasmine, letting her know she's Luigi's wife. She insists that Luigi does not have the statue, but Yasmine doesn't believe her.

Mario finds Luigi. However, before he can get information from him, a grenade is thrown through the window - killing Luigi... supposedly.

Laura and Yasmine find out what has happened to Luigi. Yasmine is convinced they'll be next and decides to get the hell out of the country.

Laura goes to see Mario in the hospital (injured from the grenade attack). She lets him know that Yasmine is planning on skipping town. Mario insists they can't let her leave.

A bartender working with Laura's crew is dispatched to the hotel to prevent Yasmine from leaving.

Yasmine shows the bartender her boobs. While he's distracted she hits him over the head with a vase.

Mario and Laura arrive in time to prevent Yasmine from leaving. They determine that she's somehow affiliated with the gang who stole the statue. They keep her in their custody.

Mario is surprised to find that Luigi is alive and well.

Laura is tasked with guarding Yasmine (while she takes yet another shower). Laura wonders what's taking Mario so long.

Mario can't believe his eyes. It's Anna. She's been involved in this operation as well. Jack was working for her.

Mario and Anna rekindle their romance. She skinny dips in the surf.

They have sex on the beach, then again in the bedroom.

So, things have gotten complicated, and the five of them sort out the various double-crossings. Luigi and Yasmine have been working together. Luigi double crossed Laura, and Yasmine double crossed Mario. Laura is now allied with Mario - who has rekindled his marriage with Anna. They all decide to work together to find the statue and split the money five ways equally.

Another double cross. They find the heroin, but Laura is working with the "real" Luigi who is in a helicopter and flies off with the stash.

The crime boss' woman receives word that Luigi is coming.

The real Luigi says he's got the statue. The two fight it out, but then the police catch up with them. The boss is shot as he tries to escape with the heroin. THE END

VZ6 SCORECARD

It is maddening how many plot twists, double crosses and surprise reveals there are in this one film. Once I found out that not only did Luigi survive the grenade attack, but also that that wasn't even really Luigi, I sort of gave up trying to follow along.  Of course, the movie was mostly over by then and I'd wasted so much time trying to make sense of this chaos.  I recommend not trying to follow along and just enjoy the ride.

Anna Romanou provides a nice shower scene.  This is her only IMDb credit.

Rosaria della Femmina walks around fully naked at the start of the film for a really long time; a true nudity marathon.  She was only in two other movies - a bit part as a prostitute in Torso (1973) and another small role in La Peau (1981).  Basically three small roles each spread apart by several years.

Annamaria Clementi delivers a ton of nude scenes in this film.  Two shower scenes, a few sex scenes, a striptease, and the list goes on.  A tour de force of full frontals.  Clementi went on to become a casting agent.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 7/10